


an infinite amount of burnt ash

by MiniNephthys



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Angst, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-21
Updated: 2018-09-21
Packaged: 2019-07-15 04:06:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16055222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiniNephthys/pseuds/MiniNephthys
Summary: Inigo at the Wellspring of Truth.





	an infinite amount of burnt ash

If it had not been for Aversa, Inigo would have stayed far away from anything with ‘of truth’ in the name. But leaving a woman who, by all rights, ought to be dead alone to practice who knows what wickedness is foolish, so Inigo swallows the lump in his throat and gives chase with Chrom and Robin and the rest.

The air around the spring flickers and warps. A mirror image of Chrom is the first to appear, but copies of the others in their group soon follow. Inigo’s eyes meet with his double’s - that smile doesn’t seem so rakish from this angle, or does it always look so forced on him?

He turns away. Self-reflection has never been his friend.

Battle is something he can focus on whether or not there are girls to show off for. The rhythm is easy to fall into: attack, dodge, attack again. He can focus on the movement of his opponent more than on their face. It’s something learned from fighting Risen, when no one was safe from dying and being turned: if you don’t look at their face, you won’t recognize the person that this monster used to be. Like that, you can fight the corpses of even your closest friends.

Attack, dodge, attack again, be sure that your opponent is staying down once they fall, turn to the next enemy-

It doesn’t matter if he doesn’t look at her face. It wouldn’t matter even if he didn’t recognize her clothes. His mother’s movements are imprinted on his memory long after she herself stopped moving.

Olivia swings her sword so gracefully. He admires the beauty of the motion even when she’s swinging at him.

The cut in his side is shallow, but painful. Inigo jumps backwards and tries to raise his sword for a counterattack. Even if it’s Olivia, he has to fight or else he’ll die. They all knew that: their parents weren’t there to rescue them anymore, so they had to fight no matter what pain they felt.

(He was lucky. He buried his mother with as many honors as he could scrounge up. If the grave was ever disturbed, it was after they had been forced to leave that area, and he never knew about it, let alone had to face her rotting corpse. He wasn’t one of the ones who had to strike down their own parents. Really, how pathetic can he be-)

His arms tremble and his legs quiver. He can’t hold his sword steady, let alone attack with it. He can barely stay standing.

Fail to dodge, fail to attack, fail to dodge again as the mirage closes in for another blow-

The steel of the illusion’s blade meets the steel of Olivia’s. Olivia shoves, sending the mirage sprawling backwards.

“Inigo,” his mother says. Right now, her back looks impossibly strong. “Maybe you should let me handle this one?”

…Ah. He’d forgotten. That isn’t his mother’s reanimated corpse trying to kill them. His mother is still here, still protecting him.

Relief and love are thick in Inigo’s throat. He can’t answer, so he turns to face another enemy that would dare to target Olivia’s back. His mother is still here, so he has to guard her weakness the same way she guards his. They can both afford a little weakness, as long as they’re both still fighting back to back.

That’s the truth he’s found.


End file.
